


Night Moves

by SeriouslySatan



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Dean Winchester/Female You, Demon possession, Eventual Relationships, F/M, Kinda, Reader-Insert, Slow Burn, plus size original female character, reader/dean winchester - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-23
Updated: 2017-08-30
Packaged: 2018-09-26 09:49:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9884369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeriouslySatan/pseuds/SeriouslySatan
Summary: Abbie is a hunter with a chip on her shoulder about the Winchesters. It's unfortunate that she keeps running in to them, and that Dean can't stop thinking about her.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> first time posting here, be kind?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introductory chapter for Abbie, I might just do a couple chapters or it could be longer, who knows *shrug*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is an intro chapter, no Dean yet, but next chapter!
> 
> and a huge thanks to my beta [trashfan2003](http://archiveofourown.org/users/trashfan2003)

     “I have to stop.” Lena said doubling over and gripping her knees. Her red braid dropped over her shoulder and swung heavy next to her face.

      “We’ve got to keep going, world doesn’t stop turning ‘cause you’re tired.” Abbie replied throwing the words Lena used so often back at her.

     “The world can keep going, I’m staying here.” she said sitting on the dirty ground with a thump. “Let’s be real Abs, I’m not making it out of this factory.” Abbie had been fighting the knot in her throat, but now it was gaining ground. Lenas face was nearly paper white, the color quickly draining out around the rail road spike lodged deep in her stomach by some demons who got the drop on them after they cleaned out a vampire nest.

     “Bull, we’re gonna get you out of here and fix that up.” Abbie said, she kept meaning to grab Lenas arm and pull her up but something kept her pinned to her spot a few feet away.

     Lena gave her a withering look that said ‘Get real kid’, but actually she said “Look, I’ve never been septic before so I don’t really have a frame of reference for what it feels like but I’m willing to bet money, my car even, on this being what it feels like. Even if we made it out you’d never get me to a hospital in time, and you heard what those demons said, the gates are open! Who knows how many more are gonna show up? You gotta get out of here and find somewhere to batten down the hatches.”

     She held steady eye contact with Abbie expecting her to give in like normal, instead Abbie forced herself forward and grabbed the older womans arm. “Best way to get me out of this factory is to come with me.” She hoisted Lena up and wrapped her friends arm around her shoulders. Lena hissed in pain and clutched her side.

     They hobbled forward together slowly, the factory was huge and it felt like it took hours to find the door they had broken open. The fact that Lena was still breathing, shallow as it might be, suggested it had only been a few moments. As they were making it across a large production floor to the door that led outside to the car, to escape, loud banging sounds came from behind them followed by laughing and other sounds demons make when they break through a devils trap.

     Abbie picked up the pace but it was too much for Lena, she collapsed against her dragging them both to the ground. Abbie didn’t remember getting back on her feet, she was just up suddenly, dragging Lena to the door. All she could hear was laughing and her own heart beat.

     Finally her back hit the door that hung crookedly on the hinge they hadn’t broken and pulled Lena out. The air was much cooler outside and the sheen of sweat that covered Abbies arms and face chilled her. She had only gotten Lena a few feet away from the factory when she tripped over a half dug out stump. She crawled back around to Lena and tried to get a grip on her again but stopped when she saw her face.

     Lena was staring blankly at the sky, her breathing shallow, and suddenly she wasn’t breathing at all. Abbie grabbed her by her shirt and kept yelling that they had made it out, she didn’t die in that factory until the door behind her was completely ripped from its hinge by one of the demons and her head was wrapped in black smoke-

     Abbie sat straight up in the back seat of her dart. She’d been having that dream for years and thankfully it never continued past her possession. She didn’t remember much from that year but she still had the anti possession tattoo on her wrist from the hunter who performed the exorcism.

     She took a moment to stretch and fished a protein bar out of her duffle. She munched on it while looking on her phone for a truck stop with showers close by. All the while the voices of those demons rung in her head, the one other important thing they had said;

Winchesters.

* * *

     Freshly showered and fed Abbie hit the road. She’d been investigating a haunting in a college town that turned out to be some kids with a projector and a smoke machine. It had been a very scooby doo couple of days. But she was itching to work a real job now. She was heading for the university library, partially because there was a great coffee shop in it, and partially because schools tend to collect weird articles and books about the paranormal in a way public libraries don’t.

     She slipped in behind a group of students, she didn't have a student id to get her in but as long as she could blend in long enough to get inside no one seemed to notice. Over the past couple of days she had become fond of a semi private corner of the library with a beaten up arm chair and a straight shot to the coffee shop. She left her bag in the seat claiming her spot and headed to the coffee shop for a mocha.

     The weather had turned chilly and she found herself wanting the warm drink more for atmosphere than anything else. She pulled the sleeves of her flannel over her hands and held the coffee close to her nose breathing the comforting smell. She scrolled through news feeds, checked paranormal hashtags, and checked through a few blogs she knew were ran by hunters kids. There were a few ify leads, but that was what lead her to the fake haunting, she wanted something solid.

     It took her about four hours and three cups of coffee but she found something. It seemed a small town in rural kentucky might have a werewolf problem. That was good enough for her, she snatched an old book on demonology she’d been eyeing and carefully removed the antitheft device, waved flirtily at the coffee boy and left the library.

* * *

     Abbie pulled into Greenup KY around 3 a.m. and was unsurprised by the lack of activity. Luckily there was someone in the office of The Budget Inn and she was able to get a room. It was the kind of little town where most people at the motel rented by the week and the town was mostly made up of one main street a few miles long and some residential areas snaking into the surrounding hills. She didn’t like investigating in places like this because everyone knew she was there and there was no where she could just blend in. She would have to keep up the marshalappearance the whole time. It was tiring to not be able to just be the slob that she was.

     She checked in with the local authorities and was shown to the local morgue almost immediately. The bodies were as advertized, heart ripped out, lots of puncture wounds, typical werewolf stuff. But something felt kind of off about the punctures, they were a little small, and usually there was some hair. But with the hearts missing there was little chance of anything other than werewolves.

     After checking out the bodies she sat in the driver's seat of her dart and thumbed through the case files. She left the engine off and the sun was quickly heating up the car, but she was too deep into the facts of the case to care. Eventually there was a knock at her window. Startled she looked up into the face of an older man wearing a sheriff's badge.

     “Yes sir?” She asked cranking her window down, relishing the cool air that hit her face. “I called your office, sounded like a teenager on the phone, they said you had lots of experience in cases like this. So wanted to know, is there's a possibility of this being a serial killer?” He chewed on the inside of his cheek trying to come off nonchalant. 

     “Thought you classified these deaths as animal attacks?” She asked, cursing whoever was manning the phones for Lena's family.

     The sheriff clicked his tongue and looked down the street before answering her. “Never did feel right, y’know? All those folks were found either in their homes or in the back of their yards. ‘Cept the two kids, they were found in the woods outside of town. Looked like animal attacks though, and saying they were kept people from panicking. But now I wonder if they should be panicked, if maybe they should get outta town for a while.” His voice was heavy with regret. Abbie decided to take pity on him.

     “I do handle cases like this fairly often. It has always turned out to be animal attacks, usually caused by some sort of upset in the animal's environment disrupting their normal habits. Makes them adventurous, do things they wouldn’t normally do. Don’t worry about it Sherriff, you did what you were suppose to.” He stood next to her car and seemed to consider whether he should accept the explanation she gave him or not. It was believable enough and she hoped the rank of marshal would give her enough clout for him to let go of his suspicions.

     “If you need anything, let us know.” He said patting the roof of her car and walking back to his own. She breathed a sigh of relief and decided to finish looking through the files at her motel.

* * *

     The next morning found Abbie nestled in between two very flat pillows that smelled like the old leather of her darts back seat and her comforter kicked to the ground. Luckily her fitted sheet was still on the mattress, sometimes she would wake up with it wrapped around her leaving the mattress bare, defeating the whole purpose of carrying her own sheets.

     She stretched and looked ruefully at the cheeseburger wrappers on the bedside table. The grease from last night left her tummy feeling uneasy and she rubbed it gently on her way to the bathroom. She showered and brushed her teeth and as she was rubbing conditioning oil into her hair her eyes drifted down to her tummy. 

     She tucked her hair into a bun on the top of her head and started to poke and prod at her stomach.

     “More than chubby, less than a buddha belly.” She sighed to the mirror. It was something Lena had often said about herself, and Abbie was frequently surprised at how similar they looked for sharing no genetics. Abbie carried about as much extra weight as Lena had, though where Lena's hair had been red Abbie's was black, and where Lena had sharp green eyes Abbie had soft brown ones. There were other details setting them apart but there was a similarity too.

     With her mind on Lena so early in the morning she knew she would be fairly somber all day. She also remembered to shoot a text to Lena's sister that she needed to stop letting her kids answer the hunter phone. She also asked if they needed anything, she didn’t want to appear ungrateful. She didn’t have to help Abbie out.

     After her possession Abbie felt it was her duty to inform Lena's family of her fate. Chastity had been happy enough to take Abbie in as a family member and offer her back up. She’d been doing it or Lena for years and other family members too, including her husband and uncle.

     Chastity had been a hunter as well but a run in with a poltergeist had left her paralysed from the waist down. So she decided to settle down, raise some kids, and offer support for those still ‘in the field’. But fairly often her teen aged son would help out, or god forbid the ten year old. It made trying to pass as a marshal a little difficult.

     Abbie pulled on some clothes that looked kinda official and set out to interview the families of the victims. She decided to talk to the parents of the teens found in the woods first, get the hardest out of the way. The interviews went as expected, lots of tears and self blame from the parents. But she did learn that another kid had disappeared a few months ago right before the attacks started. The other families didn't offer up any new information so she figured she should ask about the area where the teens were found.

     They were the only two not found in or near their homes, she figured that be a good way to zero in on where the wolf or wolves were hiding. Asking around town was tedious. A lot of people she spoke to wanted to talk about what someone else had already told her because that person had already spoken to whoever she was talking to. But she did get a few people mentioning the Kaut property.

     “Yep, the old Kaut house has been empty for years but lately some people have been seeing lights in the windows and hearing car engines around the old place. Every couple of years a group of teenagers or meth heads decide it's their place but clear out when the police check it out. Doubt thats got anything to do with your animal through.” A very nice old man selling produce on the side of the road told her.

     “Probably not, but you never know what might be useful. Thanks for your time.” She said taking notes. They waved politely and she climbed back into her car. She drove straight to the Kaut house and parked a few hundred feet away. She popped her trunk and pulled out anything useful, silver bullets, a silver dagger, some wolfsbane, anything that seemed like it could come in handy. 

     Approaching the house she found herself wishing for back up. She knew she shouldn’t be hunting alone, but she couldn’t bring herself to travel with someone that isn’t Lena. The steps to the front door were stone and stayed silent, but the wooden door creaked open loudly. If there was anyone in the house they would have heard her, so she decided to just embrace it and hope she put anyone in the house on edge.

     “Here doggy doggy doggy.” She shouted into the dark pulling her guns from their holsters. She whistled as she checked the two front rooms and the kitchen. She kicked in the doors to the bedrooms and closets. She’d made a lot of noise through the entire house and hadn’t been confronted by a single werewolf or person.

     Finally she came to the basement, if there was anyone in the house this would be the place to find them. She kicked the door in and began whistling again. Shining her flashlight around in case someone was hiding in a dark corner. But all she found was a sparse room with some couches against the walls. There was a pile of plastic tubing on the ground and some empty blood bags. 

     Abbie cursed, it never was werewolves, it was a vamp nest, and they had already moved on. She left through the back door and found tread marks from three different cars, at least one was a truck, but that was all the information she could glean from the marks. As she pulled out and hit the actual pavement the dirt tracks lead from the house and looked like they turned off away from town.

     “Damnit!” she exclaimed smacking her steering wheel.

     Angry and dejected she pulled into The Budget Inn and tried to find a trail of vamp activity in the last few days. She found a disappearance close by and some party goers left a bonfire feeling woozy but swore they didn’t drink farther north in a little town on the border of kentucky and Ohio. With how well documented their escape was Abbie guessed they had a newbie with them, probably the girl that had gone missing before. 

     She packed her stuff and left a message with the sheriff's department that there was evidence the animal had moved on and she was following it. She paid for her last night at the motel and set off toward Ohio through the mist of the early morning.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Abbie has a run in with the boys

Abbie pulled into Florence KY in the still early hours. She didn’t have much she could do yet so she called around a few motels to see if she could find somewhere that would let her check in really early. Due to some sort of corporate convention in town there weren’t many rooms available. Luckily there was a motel called The Wildwood Inn that would let her check in immediately but it was a little pricey. Still she agreed, after pulling an all nighter she was just interested in a bed.

There were a few things about the inn that struck her as odd, such as the indoor pool under a glass dome. But she was more than surprised by her room. She knew it was called the Arizona Cave Suite but she was shocked to find it decked out like an actual cave. She sat her laptop down on the table that looked like an outcropping of stone and took in the strange room.

The walls were textured and painted to look like the Arizona desert . She smiled to herself a little at the luck, but she grinned when she saw the size of the tub. Unfortunately there was no time for that now. She needed to find the nest before sundown to prevent more deaths. So she set to work to see where the local attacks had taken place and see if there was anything on watchdog sites about a group of people causing any sort of trouble.

She found some complaints in the classifieds that lead her to believe they might be staying in a barn on the outskirts of town. As she packed for clearing out a nest she thought back to the old house in Greenup she charged into. Honestly she was lucky they had left, the weapons she had on her would have been ineffective against vampires. As upset as she was that she’d missed them it was probably the only reason she was still alive. 

Setting up their kills like werewolf attacks had been a smart move, one she hadn’t seen before. Usually they were just focused on not getting caught by human authorities, they didn’t usually set up other monsters. It made her wonder how long this family had been hunting like this, how long had they been sneaking out of towns while hunters looked for werewolves? And what changed in the past few days? None of the kills had been set up to look like werewolf attacks.

* * *

By the time she reached the barn it was high noon, the sun was bright in the sky and she figured she should be able to sneak in and behead quite few vamps before they even realized she was there. Just in case she slung her secret weapon across her back. It was a UV strobe light hooked up to some D batteries. Sunlight might not kill real vampires but it sure did stun them. She slid some sunglasses onto the top of her head in case she had need of them and headed for the barn. There was a knot of excitement in her stomach, she loved being on the job. 

Before she was too far from the car she could hear yelling and crashing in the barn. She picked up her speed. It was unusual for them to feed during the day but she had seen stranger things happen.

She slid her sunglasses into place, kicked in the barn door, and activated the strobe light. She took in the scene before her fairly quickly. They weren’t feeding as she had thought but fighting. In the middle of the barn stood two hunters just as surprised and blinded as the vamps. She started beheading the monsters quick hoping she could cut them all down before they recovered.

The other hunters were good, they joined her fairly quickly considering they had no eye protection from the uv light. It seemed to be just a few moments of fighting before the vampires were defeated. In the struggle one of the vamps had put a fist through her strobe light before she could behead him, mournfully she laid it on the ground to be inspected. But first she wanted to check the rest of the barn. On a table against the wall was a vamp body laid out with the head resting a few inches away. He looked to be a couple days old, if he were the leader that could explain the change in hunting technique.

She also took time to take in her accidental partners. One was tall, like really needlessly tall. Who is that tall really? And the the other wasn’t exactly short but he was a much more average height. He was still easily taller than Abbie. But he did have these really pretty green eyes that she couldn’t look away from for a few moments.

“Didn’t mean to crash your party boys, but I followed these guys from Greenup Kentucky.” She said, stooping to check her light. Looked like it would just need a new bulb thankfully. She strapped it across her back sans broken bulb.

“Yeah, uh, thanks for the help. What the hell was that light?” Pretty eyes asked, making Abbie giggle.

“Dean be polite. I’m Sam Winchester, this is my brother Dean.” The tall one, Sam she supposed, said kindly.

Abbies blood froze, then boiled. She couldn’t believe that she just happened to walk in on the actual fucking Winchesters getting their asses kicked by a group of vampires.

“Sam and Dean Winchester? How about that.” She said with a pleasant smile on her lips. She approached Dean as he was grinning and obviously about to say something self indulgent. Once in range she reared back and punched him full on in the face. He spun back clutching his cheek stunned.

“Woah!” Sam exclaimed looking like he was going to make a move toward her until she shot him a look sharp enough to split hairs. He put up his hands in a placating manner and stepped back.

“What the hell lady!” Dean yelled turning back to her. His eyes were burning with a mix of anger and confusion.

“Fight me!” She all but spat in his face. Abbie had often thought about how she would handle meeting the Winchesters, What she would do, What she would say. Decking one of them in the face had never been in the plan, at least not right off, but she was prepared to roll with it.

“I’m not gonna fight you!” He yelled back. His voice was a little higher than it had been before, he was clearly distressed.

“Chicken shit.” She said taking a step toward him.

“Come on!” He Yelled backing up a little. “I’m not gonna fight you! What did I even do to you in the first place?”

“You opened the gates!” She shouted, her voice cracked a little and she blushed in embarrassment.

The tone of the room changed, both brothers wore solemn expressions. They may not have known her specific story but they knew something had gone wrong, and that she blamed them for it. She could see the pity coming over their faces and it made her furious. “Listen I’m sorry for whatever happened to you after that but-” Sam began but Abbie cut him off.

“I’m coming for you in a minute big boy.” She said in a low dangerous sounding tone holding out a hand to cut him off, never breaking eye contact with Dean. Using her other hand she made a challenging gesture. Dean's eyebrows knit together in frustration.

“Just calm down! We’re not gonna fight!” He yelled hands in the air.

“Oh yes we are.” She said quietly and mostly to herself. But as she stepped forward she was tackled to the ground by a body considerably smaller than either of the boys. Her head hit the concrete ground with a loud smack that left her a little woozy. There was a lot of commotion around her that she was trying to make sense of, and a strong pinching pressure on her shoulder.

There was an unpleasant thunking sound right behind her ear and suddenly she was looking into the face of the teenage girl that went missing in Greenup whose head ended abruptly an inch below her chin. It was still rocking back and forth from where it had rolled from her shoulders. There was a shred of Abbie's green canvas jacket stuck in her now receding fangs.

One of the brothers pulled the body off of Abbie while the other looped an arm under her shoulder and pulled her up. When she was standing she saw that it was Sam and keeping with the pattern for the day punched him in the jaw. He reeled back groaning. The quick movement had left her head spinning.

“What the hell is your problem, we just saved you!” Dean shouted.

“Considering that, and that I got to punch you both, And that I’m a little minor concussion-y, Maybe let's not fight. Right now. Next time I’ll kick your asses.” She put her hands on her hips and threw her head back, taking a minute to catch her breath. Briefly she wondered if her motel would have aspirin or if she should stop somewhere on her way back.

Pulling her head back up she found Dean staring at her with a bemused look on his face. Was it her imagination or did it take a minute for his eyes to find her face? His reputation as a- well a man whore frankly- had traveled with the stories about all the crazy things they had done; almost ending the world multiple times, and also somehow also always saving it. But she wasn’t his type surely. With her wide hips and squared shoulders she was sure she didn’t look like the usual waitresses and occasional hunters he usually went for. But even as she was assuring herself he wasn’t checking her out she thought she saw his gaze drift vaguely downward.

“Alright, I’m gonna go. Thanks for the help guys.” She started to walk off feeling eyes on her back as she did.

“Hey, You sure you’ll be ok? With your head and all, you sure someone shouldn’t make sure you make it home ok?” Dean shouted after her a grin evident in his tone.

“Nope I’m good.” She replied waving him off but never turning to look back. Her cheeks heated up, she mentally scolded herself for it. He wasn’t flirting, and he was partially the reason Lena was gone and she’d lost a year to demon possession.

She let out a sigh of relief when she slid into her dart “Stop that!” She growled at herself as she thought back to intense green eyes.

“Pretty eyes sure could take a punch though.” She smiled a little and started her engine.

* * *

“What the hell Dean? She attacked both of us.” Sam asked pursing his lips.

“What?” Dean asked watching the cute little dart pull onto the road, if it were black it would have looked like baby had a baby.

“Why flirt with her? After punching us both, and leaving us with all the clean up?” He asked.

“I- what? I wasn't flirting! If anything she was flirting!” He replied indignantly, feeling it was overly obvious he wasn’t flirting.

“Oh she was flirting? By punching?” Sam asked, now smiling because his brother was defensive. “She was a pretty solid fighter though huh?” He asked hoping to bait Dean.

“Didn’t really notice.” Dean huffed setting to work pulling bodies together to burn. Sam chuckled to himself.

* * *

Back at the motel Abbie had drawn a warm bath and sunk into it with glass of water and four or five aspirin. She watched the water trickle down the constructed stone wall, the “waterfall” feature her room had. Her head was still pounding but she could feel the pills starting to take effect. 

She had never expected to run into the Winchesters like that, it had sort of knocked her off her game. If she was being honest with herself she knew they weren’t exactly responsible for Lena's death and her possession. She was just so angry about it she had needed to direct it somewhere, and until they were real people inhabiting the same space as her the Winchesters had been a perfect place to focus that anger.

She sighed and closed her eyes relaxing into the warm water of her bath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you hve any notes or suggestions on characterization let me know <3


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lake monster madness! A less than romantic beach date to follow.

     Abbie woke up still in the tub. The water was body temperature and it made her very uncomfortable. She groaned as she pulled herself out of the tub, her skin felt waterlogged and over sensitive. She quickly toweled off and crawled into bed undressed. She had meant to sleep before looking for the vamp nest but had gotten so involved in the case she had forgotten to. Resulting in her sleeping in the tub for who knows how long and the massive headache she was now dealing with, or was that from hitting her head? She remembered the pills she’d left on the rim of the tub but could not find the strength to stand up and get them. Instead she closed her eyes and drifted off hoping sleep would help.

     She woke up and looked around blearily. She wasn’t sure what time it was but she was painfully aware of how hungry she was. She reached for her bag a few feet away from the bed with her foot, hoping she could drag it over without having to get up. She made a small sound of victory when she managed to loop the strap around her ankle.

     With her bag next to her she felt around in it looking for a granola bar, she tried to keep them on her at all times. Unfortunately she couldn’t find one. Not even after dumping the contents of her bag out on her comforter. She sighed knowing she’d never get back to sleep this hungry. Begrudgingly she pulled on a pair of sweatpants and a tank top before leaving her room to hunt down some food. 

     The sky was a soft blue with just a few stars left out. She guessed it was pretty early morning and her phone confirmed that it was 5:53 am. She groaned to herself knowing that not many places would be open and decided to look for somewhere on her phone instead of just driving around aimlessly. She managed to find a diner called Gunpowder Creek Cookery that sounded like it was worth a shot.

     She arrived before the place was technically open and sat in the dart for a while looking at their menu online. A waitress unlocked the door with a sour look on her face, unhappy to be dealing with a customer so immediately after opening. 

     Abbie tried to be as unobtrusive as possible while reading a real menu. She had been toying with the idea of french toast but she could already feel the regret of it twisting knots in her stomach and leaving her anxious. When the waitress took her order, warning her it would be a few moments before the kitchen was fully set up, she was much kinder than Abbie had expected. She ordered a plain cheese omelette and coffee, which seemed to be the lowest calorie thing she could get for breakfast.

     She amused herself on her phone after the waitress left to put in her order until it warned her she only had a five percent charge left. She mentally cursed herself for not plugging it in last night and turned off the screen hoping to preserve the battery. Looking around the ‘cookery’ she found a wire shelf with free papers on it. She stood up to look through them and was excited to find a paper that published a lot of odd things. Such as celebrity gossip with fun twists like “Is Jennifer Aniston pregnant with a DEMON?” She took it back to her seat smiling to herself.

     The paper kept her fully entertained through breakfast. She was reading an article about a killer monster in Mono Lake as she finished up and noticed that the sources seemed real, and trustworthy. It detailed the deaths of four men in the area, three of whom were strong swimmers and found washed up on the shore of the lake drowned, and one who was so terrified of the water his widow claimed there's no way he would have been anywhere near the lake. This peaked Abbie's interest and definitely warranted further research.

* * *

      The drive took a while, being across the country and all. Before the vamps she’d been in Maine and the air had been nippy, Kentucky had been warmer, but heading to California it was getting much warmer. What's more the area around Mono Lake was experiencing a heat wave.

      Abbie had looked into the lake a little before leaving, she stayed at the Wildwood Inn another night, wanting a chance to really enjoy the bathtub before she left. But everything she read about the lake said it was shallow, the deepest it got was 152 ft. With the heat wave she doubted it was anywhere close to its max depth, as a result she also doubted that there was a killer sea creature hidden it it. Add to that the lake was only about 13 by 9 miles it would be unlikely even if it was deeper. Loch Ness was twice that size and like five times the depth.

      She’d been considering what else it could be, but with little information on the bodies she wasn’t sure. She was going to have to wait until she got there to figure this out. But she wasn’t gonna make it there in a day, that’d be crazy.

      After a long day of driving she parked outside of a twenty four hour diner and had dinner. She’d skipped lunch in order to drive as long as possible, opting to eat a granola bar instead (which she immediately replaced upon finding she’d run out.) She ate a light dinner figuring after a day of driving she should avoid anything too heavy. 

     She planned on sleeping in the dart and retrieved her comforter from the trunk. She had spoken to the woman at the register to make sure it’d be ok to sleep in front of the diner. She wanted to stay inview of the workers and customers in case someone decided she was an easy mark. She had no doubt that she could drop anyone who tried to grab her but you never know how things will go down if someone gets the jump on you.

     She laid down and snuggled into her pillows. She spent about an hour or so on her phone before drifting off to sleep. She planned on reading up on Mono Lake and the surrounding areas more, but found herself looking into the Winchesters a little.

     She knew most of their exploits already and honestly couldn’t figure out whether they were heroes or not. She felt like they’d done enough in the long run to not be considered villains, maybe. But there were so many things they had caused directly, that they unleashed because of their own arrogance. She didn’t know how to feel about the whole thing. Or the several novels she ran across that seemed to be about them, what was that about? But she decided she was too tired to spend anymore energy on it and turned off her screen.

* * *

     She pulled into Lee Vining the next evening and checked into her motel room. It was a little place that was actually a few separate cabins and had a restaurant attached, which she thought would be convenient until she found out it was closed for repairs. Her room had a nice view of the lake in the distance. 

     She called the coroner's office but was forwarded to his cell phone. He told her he wouldn’t be in until the next day. She sighed once off the phone and took to her laptop. If she couldn’t see the bodies today she would just have to do more research on water based creatures without knowing what she was really looking for. 

     The funny thing about the US is that for some reason monsters got shipped in along with immigrants and people had been migrating to the US literally since it was discovered. So there were native legends and monsters that there was never really enough background or information on, and there was all sorts of ‘exotic’ monsters as well. She could keep at this for a solid year and never get any closer to figuring out what it was without more info.

     So she shut her laptop and decided to take a look at the lake itself.

* * *

      Mono Lake was a salt and soda lake, both things occurring naturally in the ground springs that fed it. The salt content was higher than the ocean and only brine shrimp lived there. It had an unusual but not bad smell to it, and there were these odd whitish spires and structures rising out of the water, it made her think of that one church in Barcelona but she couldn’t remember its name. It had a very alien feel to it, she could see why people were ready to accuse a monster of these deaths.

      The heatwave had the locals out later in the season than usual so the lake was a little on the busy side. Abbie had not come prepared to swim so instead she looked for boat rentals. She was informed there was a kayak rental place across from her motel. She was a little worried about kayaking. She'd never been in one and had only ever seen skinny outdoorsy people in them. Briefly she worried she'd be laughed out of the door. 

     She shook her head and reminded herself the real world wasn't as bad as her head would like to imagine. But just in case she googled kayaks on her phone.

* * *

      In the store she looked at the single kayaks, which according to a quick Google search should be just fine for her, and opted for a sit on top model. She felt she’d be more mobile in it in case something attacked her. She paid out to rent it for a few days and tied it to the top of her dart.

      She tapped the top of her car lovingly and climbed into the driver's seat. Back at the motel she checked her ties to make sure nothing had come loose. She could hear a car pulling into the space next to her. Looking up from her task she spotted the same green eyes from Florence and felt a groan creeping up.

      He was smiling obnoxiously. “Hey there.” He shouted over the engine before cutting it off. She rolled her eyes and tried to think up a smart response but there was no need, Dean had no intention of giving her time to respond.

      “I know I’m on the punch first list, but it seems we’re working the same case. Unless you’re not here for the lake monster?” He asked with a mock serious expression.

     “No I’m here for the lake monster, why else would I have a kayak tied to my car?” She replied half in a sigh.

     “Have you seen the bodies yet?” Sam asked getting out of the impala.

     “No I’m getting a call back tomorrow, I went to check out the lake and ended up renting this.” She said tapping the kayak. Sam wasn’t as obnoxious as Dean it seemed. He seemed to be more interested in the case than bothering her.

     “Why not get a real boat? A kayak might not be a match for a lake monster.” Dean said, also getting out of the car for some reason.

     “Did you look into the lake at all? It really doesn’t seem like a monster would fit in there, unless it's a really small monster. I’m not sure what it is, but I’m thinking the bodies will help me figure something out.” Abbie was resisting the urge to chew on her thumb nail nervously.

     “Alright,” Dean said smacking his hands together, “we’ll tag along, help you figure it out.” He stated very matter of factly.

     “What? No. To begin I never even mentioned partners, and this is my job, you should move on.” She crossed her arms and gave them both a stern look. Deans brow furrowed.

      “No way, I’m not jinxing a chance to see a lake monster. Last time we thought we had one it was just a ghost.” He crossed his arms mirroring her own stance.

      “It’s true he’s been talking about it the whole drive from Kentucky.” Sam said giving her an apologetic look.

      “You know, I’ve got some research to do, You should probably go find a motel.” She said in effort to dismiss the brothers. Dean looked taken aback while sam grimaced a little.

      “This is our motel, this is our room. We’re neighbors baby!” Dean shouted retrieving his bag from the back seat of the impala.

      “No.” She whispered to herself. It was going to be a long couple of days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm late on the update already! :O  
> Because someone *glaring at [trashfan2003](http://archiveofourown.org/users/trashfan2003) * couldn't stay awake last night.  
> I'm joking, I was already a day late by last night '-'


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lake investigations and maybe I start hinting they like each other finally!

     Working with the boys had not been terrible. She convinced them to rent a kayak as well and they had explained the haunting that had seemed like it could be a lake monster they encountered before. Sam seemed to believe like her that it was something else but Dean was hung up on the words lake monster. It was this almost childlike excitement that disarmed Abbie's general negative feelings toward him.

      She did end up taking them to see the bodies with her, the coroner didn’t seem to mind or find it suspicious. He had all the bodies laid out on examination tables. There were six now, two more than she'd originally read about. She was looking one over while the boys looked over another and asking the coroner a few questions. He’d been moody and a little uncooperative. 

      “So there wasn’t much detail on cause of death in the report. Why is that?” She asked checking for skin or possibly scales under the victim's finger nails.

      “Well you’re looking at the body, there's not much to report about. No bruising, no injuries, nothing suggesting foul play or anything. They just drowned.” He answered sourly. They’d not talked about it but Abbie thought perhaps he’d known at least one of the men here. It was a small community and he seemed to be grieving, she recognized it because she also grieved angry.

      “And no foreign chemicals found in their systems?” She asked holding a very blue foot.

      “None. But we didn’t do any testing on Billy Myers, he’s mormon.” His voice was tight. Abbie looked at him to find him staring at the wall.

      “Can I ask, how many of these men did you know?” She regretted the question as soon as it left her mouth. The boys stopped looking over their bodies and the coroner tensed. He met her eyes though it seemed to be a struggle.

      “All of them, in passing, except for the photographer. Max something I think, But Billy and Thomas, we would fish together. Thomas didn’t swim much, didn’t like it. He wouldn’t have just been swimming in that lake, he wouldn’t go out on the water unless he was fishing, but there's no fish in that water.” He was obviously suspicious of his friends death.

      “Was there no one else who could have done the examinations?” She asked, he shook his head silently. “We can handle it from here, if we have further questions we’ll come to your office. But why don’t you take a break?” She asked, dismissing him. He nodded, made a waving gesture and left the room.

      “Poor guy.” Sam said when the door shut. Abbie nodded not knowing what to say about it.

      “Ok enough of the feelings, what are we supposed to be learning here? I’m not finding anything.” Dean said gruffly. He was right though there was nothing to find. The men were unharmed, they had nothing in their systems, it left them where they started.

      “Yeah I don’t know. It seems like they all just willingly drowned. But even if they did it’s not like they would have an easy time of it. The salinity of the lake makes people and objects more buoyant. They would have had to be swimming like hell to stay under long enough to drown. Even then they would have passed out and surfaced, they could still drown if they surface face down, but still. Thats a lot of struggle to drown yourself, why not just tie yourself to something and sink?” She was used to talking her way through things but having people around to sound off on was a nice change.

      “ There also were no brine shrimp found on them or in them, there’s a lot of brine shrimp in that lake, it just seems unlikely.” Sam added.

      “I agree, I was down there and while I only saw the shore area there was a lot of shrimp there, seems like there would definitely be some on the bodies, maybe even in the lungs.” She concurred.

      “Alright well we’re not learning much from the bodies, I say we get copies of the files from the coroner and get lunch. I’m starving.” Dean sid, interrupting Abbie and Sam's brainstorming.

      “Lunch? We just ate breakfast after you insisted we get food before doing our jobs.” She protested.

      “That was hours ago, it’s 2 now. It’s past lunch time.” He argued and left the room to get the files. Abbie huffed a labored sigh.

      “He’s right though. There's not much else to learn here. We should refuel and maybe check out the lake.” Sam said, agreeing with his brother. Abbie rolled her eyes and followed him out of the room.

* * *

      They ended up at the lake after a quick lunch at a fast food restaurant. Abbie had an order of fries and nothing else claiming she was still full from breakfast. She unloaded her kayak as the boys took theirs down too. They loaded the vessels in the water and paddled out. The boys looked a little silly, with Dean in front and giant Sam in the back of their two person kayak, both still wearing their street clothes. Abbie had opted to change into a swim suit, shorts, and a t shirt she’d cut into a tank top. She looked like she was prepared to kayak, the boys did not. Sam at least had taken her lead and left his shoes in their car but Dean was still wearing his heavy boots.

      “Damn.” he cursed quietly.

      “I told you your boots would get wet, stop cursing every time they do. You should have left them in the car.” She commented without looking at him. She was relishing in his discomfort. Dean made a grunting sound but didn’t reply.

      They paddled around the lake not knowing what they were really looking for. Close to the big island they came across two girls laying out in a bright yellow float large enough to hold quite a few people.

      They paddled up to the float to speak to the girls. Dean was preparing to be grossly flirtatious so Abbie cut in.

      “Excuse me, we’re here looking into some suspicious deaths in the area. Have you girls seen anything weird in the past few days?” She called out.

      The girls shifted onto thier elbows to answer but Abbie was distracted to a cold slick hand grabbing her ankle. She screamed and kicked out, missing a third girl by mere inches. She swam to the float giggling a very sharp sounding giggle. The other girls were giggling as well and even the boys were smiling.

      Abbies cheeks were red. “Surprised me is all.” She mumbled lowly, earning an actual chuckle from Dean. The sound made her boil and she chided herself for letting him get to her like that.

      “We haven’t seen anything. We’ve been camping over on Paoha and haven’t seen any lake monsters or whatever.” One of the girls answered making the other two giggle again.

      “No unusual people or instances?” Sam asked. One of the girls on the float crawled closer to the boys kayak and dipped her fingers in the water over the side.

      “Nothing worth noting big boy.” She purred. Sam's face went pink and he was smiling like an idiot. Abbie rolled her eyes, men were ridiculous. She wasn’t sure what was so appealing. The girls were slender and blond, sure, but their eyes were too far apart and while the two on the float were mostly dry and looked normal the one perched on the side treading water looked….slimey wasn’t right but neither was slick. She wasn’t sure how to describe the look of her skin, but the girl took notice of Abbie looking at her and winked flirtatiously. Abbie quickly looked away.

      “You know the locals are saying it isn’t a sea monster at all, that it’s the salt water witch.” The other girl on the float said while making eyes at Dean.

      “Yeah? Who’s that?” Dean asked looking absolutely smitten.

      “She’s this indian medicine woman who used to live on the lake. She killed people that came to the lake with malice in their hearts and helped people who needed it. Legend says she was killed by some fur traders and that her spirit still roams the banks carrying on her work.” The girl in the water said, swimming closer to the kayaks. The boys were so enraptured by her they leaned in close to the water.

      “You guys are gonna tip your boat.” Abbie said dryly. Sam straightened quickly rocking the kayak suddenly. Dean had to grab either side to stabilize himself.

      “We’ll keep all that in mind, thank you ladies.” Abbie said politely before paddling away. She didn’t stop to check if the boys were following and frankly she didn’t care. It just reinforced what she knew, a girl could be odd looking and off putting as long as she was slender men would fall all over themselves.

* * *

     The lake answered no more questions than before so the trio headed home to look into other leads. Sam and Abbie had been researching on their laptops, Sam at the table, Abbie on the bed with her legs crossed. Sam was researching lore on local witches while Abbie was looking for signs of a current coven or a possible descendant of the salt water witch. She wasn’t sure about Sam but she was coming up with bunk. She exhaled dramatically and fell back onto her pillows, drawing a small smile from Sam.

     “How the research going Abbie?” He asked bemused.

     “Real shitty Samwell. How about your end?” She asked staring at the ceiling.

     “Samwell?” His eyebrow shot up.

     “I don’t know your full name. So does Dean never do research or is it because I’m here? Where did he even go?” Dean had disappeared almost immediately after they got back from the lake.

     “He’s picking up food, and he’s uhhh, ok at research. Trust me this is how we work best.” Sam explained. Moments later Dean threw open the door with an arm full of food.

     “Tacos!” he said a little louder than necessary. He threw a bag at Sam followed with a can of soda, he then chucked a bag at Abbie soon to be followed by a can as well. Abbie sat up and looked ruefully down at the bag in her lap.

     “What?” Dean asked noticing her face.

     “Just not sure I’m hungry enough for tacos.” She said trying to sound genuine.

     “What? How? You’ve hardly eaten anything today. Fruit for breakfast, fries at lunch, no way you’re not hungry. Just smell those babies and you’ll be hungry. Anyway after all that rowing the meat’ll do you good- you’re not a vegetarian are you?” He make a distasteful face at the thought. 

     “No I’m not a vegetarian.” She answered smiling a little.

     “You like tacos?” He asked.

     “Who doesn’t like tacos?” She rolled her eyes.

     “Well alright, let's eat.” He plopped down on the other bed in the room and began eating. Abbie couldn’t deny she was in fact hungry, or the smell of the tacos, reluctantly she dug in.

     “Either of you find anything?” He asked around a mouthful of food. Neither Abbie nor Sam made a sound but their faces must have been enough response. “We should probably just check for hex bags in the victims homes to be sure.” He suggested.

     Abbie nodded, but was too busy with what was possibly the best taco she’d ever had to really respond. Seeing the look on her face as Abbie ate Dean smiled to himself, a little bit of pride swelling in his chest at the sight. Just past Abbie he caught sight of Sam Looking back and forth between the two and asking a question with his eyebrows. Deans eyebrows knitted and he focused on his tacos.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo its been like 2 weeks because I'm a bag of garbage. Sorry guys, also thanks to my beta, you know who she is! It's  trashfan2003! if you like star wars and more specifically Kylo Ren X Reader fics here's your girl


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Night kayaking and maybe something actually happens in this chapter? maybe I move the plot along? maybe not, lets roll the dice and see.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok so it's been like a month because I'm a terrible person who would rather play farming games than be productive. Idk why but farming games are my vice, like harvest moon not like farmville. Never mind none of you needed to know this.  
> Thank you to anyone hanging on here, sorry about the sporadic updates.
> 
> as always thanks to my lovely beta trashfan2003
> 
> I think she's publishing a new chapter tonight as well for Smugglers choice, if you're into star wars and kylo ren you should check it out, it got saucy this chapter ;)

      Abbie and Dean had been leaning up against Baby tossing pebbles at a mailbox trying to hit in the middle of a painted on flower. They all had two houses to check for hex bags. Dean and Abbie had searched their houses before Sam and were waiting on him to finish up. Neither of them found anything and Abbie seriously doubted that Sam would either.

      “So, Baby? Why that, why not literally anything else?”Abbie asked jiggling the stones in her hand while waiting for Dean to take his shot.

      “Baby’s a great name. And it wasn’t exactly on purpose, I just call her that so often you know? It stuck. Yours got a name? Something cutesy?” He said finally chucking his pebble, missing the flower by an inch. He clicked his tongue in disappointment.

     “Oh yeah. She’s a ‘71 Dart Demon in the original butterscotch paint, I call her Sweet D. Kinda cutesy I guess.” She grinned and tossed her pebble, her smile fell when she missed the mailbox completely earning a small chuckle from Dean. She flushed a little at the sound and tried to convince herself it was from embarrassment and not the deep warm sound of it. 

     She failed to notice a similar coloring on Dean's face. He wasn’t sure what it was about her calling her car Sweet D but it made him grin like an idiot, like he’d never heard a name like it.

      Given most of their interactions he was a little surprised by how easy this had been. They’d been chatting without either of them feeling the need to be difficult for about twenty minutes, he was sure it was a record. He found himself feeling oddly disappointed to see Sam coming down the walk from the house.

     “Nothing.” He shrugged when he reached them. Abbie groaned and dropped the pebbles left in her hand before climbing into the back seat. Dean dropped his as well, a little reluctantly, before joining her and Sam in the car.

      With no more leads to follow Dean pulled into a drive through burger place. Abbie had been looking into local lore on her phone but looked up long enough to see where they were and made a chuffing sound. Dean narrowed his eyes at her via the mirror.

     “What have you got against food?” Dean asked sounding like he was personally hurt.

     “Nothing but I’d like to see something other than burgers and fries eventually.” She responded without looking at him. She heard Sam make a smug sound followed by the sound of a firm shoulder punch, it made her smile to herself. The boys were really starting to grow on her, to her own surprise.

     Dean ordered food for himself and Sam before leaning back to ask Abbie if she’d like something.

     “Diet Coke please.” She responded distractedly before he had the chance to ask. This earned her another look from Dean.

* * *

      Back at the hotel Abbie sat on the trunk of her car and explained some local lore to the boys.

      “So it seems that there’s two legends that mention giant aquatic creatures in the lake, so that could support Dean's dream of seeing a sea monster,” She began, making Dean smile a huge goofy grin, “But there's also a legend about these spirits of the mists? I’m not sure what they do but they appear in the hot springs on the big island, Paoha. It’s actually named after them, that’s what they’re called, Paoha. And then there's the Saltwater Witch, she seems to be different from your run of the mill pledged to satan types. It’s possible that Paiute magic is different, I don’t really have any experience with it. Or any first nation magic really.” She admitted chewing on her straw.

      “So it could still be basically anything.” Sam stated flatly arms crossed in frustration. Abbie nodded looking a little defeated.

     “So I guess we stake out the lake?”Dean asked, more excited than he should be.

      “I guess.” Abbie sighed rolling her eyes.

      They planned to stake out the lake at night when all the attacks had taken place, in the meantime Sam went back into their room to see if he could dig up any useful information, followed by Dean who seemed to have no plan of helping with research.

      With a few hours to kill Abbie decided to do a check up on Sweet D. Everything seemed good though she made a mental note to stock up on armor all wipes because hers were almost gone. Dean watched her meticulously check the dart and was a little impressed by how thorough she was. He paid little attention to the fact that he was watching her work through the window until Sam chuckled.

      “What?” Dean asked suddenly aware he was being a little creepy.

      “You’ve got a crush, it’s cute.” Sam replied looking at his laptop rather than Dean.

      “What the hell are you talking about Sammy?” He asked, he could feel his cheeks flush a little.

      “Don’t get defensive, I like her, she’s kinda cool. I was just a little surprised, she’s not really the type you go for.” 

      “I’m not ‘going’ for anyone. And what do you mean my type, I don’t have a type.” He said earning another chuckle from Sam. “Whatever.” He mumbled to himself. He settled into his seat in a way that still allowed him to watch Abbie work.

      He knew he liked Abbie well enough, and she was kinda cute, she’d meet his attitude with more attitude. But he didn’t have a crush on her, that was childish. Sure she was fairly attractive and funny and he was thinking about her a lot but that didn’t mean anything. He got up determined to find something else to do for a while.

* * *

      There was cool mist hanging over the lake as they paddled out. They had unloaded just as the sun had fallen and were in the heavy dark before the moon climbed high enough to shed much light. The lake took a sinister look in the dark, not too surprising considering the strange looking spires reaching out of the water. 

     Hours passed without anything suspicious and the three had begun to talk about heading in. There had been a serene lapping sound the entire time they had been on the lake but the sound had gotten suspiciously loud.

     “I may just be looking for something since we’ve got nothing but do you guys hear splashing?” She asked the boys.

     “You know, I think she’s right.” Sam said looking to Dean.

     “Let’s go catch a monster.” Dean said much too excited at the prospect of being on a kayak in the same lake as a monster. 

     The group paddled around a corner of the big island to find a small mass of bodies thrashing fairly far out from the islands shore. Abbie paddled with all her strength and as she approached she could make out what seemed to be four people. It looked like the girls they had met before and an older man with dark hair. The girls looked different though, more snake than person. One of them turned to Abbie and hissed through pointed teeth.

     “Oh christ they’re the monsters!” She shouted back to the boys. A Backward glance told her the boys were quickly gaining on her position. So with back up close at hand she propelled herself into the middle of the mass of bodies and was quickly dragged into the water. There were slick arm around her pinning her own arms to her sides. She kicked out but her feet just flailed uselessly. The creature was spinning her making her dizzy and she felt the need for air all the more. Her thoughts were flooded with the bitter taste filling her mouth and burning in her eyes and throat.

     Finally getting her thoughts into some kind order she threw her head back hard and felt the satisfying crunch of a nose breaking. The creature released her before biting deep into her shoulder. She could only hope that the boys were handling the other two better than she was handing this one.

     The struggle had brought them both bumping to the lake bed. Abbie felt around and to her great relief found a large fist sized rock that she smashed into the creature's face as hard as she could. It squealed open mouthed, a sound and sight that made Abbies stomach turn sickly. She took advantage of the creatures pain and swam to the surface, rising fast through the salty water.

     Once on the surface she looked around to find the boys. She spotted them both still on their kayak with the other two creatures stroking their legges, making strange soft sounds, trying to lure them into the water. Abbie was still clutching the rock from the lake bed and threw it hard at the closest creature, the one that just happened to be intent on pulling Dean into the water. The rock clocked her in the back of the head and she spun on Abbie, leaving Dean blinking blearily. 

     “You might wanna check on your friend, she was really bleeding down there.” Abbie yelled, her voice rough with salt. 

     Hearing this the creature focused on Sam also turned to face Abbie, the two creatures shared a look and disappeared under the water. Abbie swam to the kayak as fast as she could make herself go with her injured shoulder. She wasn’t sure if they had left to find the third creature or to dispose of her but she desperately wanted to get on that kayak and out of the water. 

     She had finally gotten close enough to climb up between the boys, who were still trying to clear their heads when she felt a sharp pain in her ankle. She cried out with the shock of it, fearing they had her by the leg she threw herself onto the kayak hoping she could pull herself free. Dean grabbed her by the arms while Sam used his paddle to beat back one of the creatures. Abbie caught site of a bloodied rock hit the water past the small vessel, the monster must have chucked it at them before it swam away. Her cry must have snapped the boys out of their daze because as soon as she was balanced between them they paddled hard for the shore.

     “Where's the guy?” She asked not knowing the fate of the creatures victim. Sam pointed grimly to a shape floating motionless in the water. Abbie felt guilt settle into her stomach, nestled comfortably with the fear there.

     They made it safely to shore and Abbie hoped bitterly it was because she had seriously hurt the one who dragged her down into the water. Once on shore they abandoned the kayak and loaded into the impala, Sam helped Abbie limp to the back set while Dean started the car. They didn’t Speak until they were locked in the boys room.

     “Are you ok Abs?” Dean asked tenderly after she settled on the bed propping her leg up to get a better look at her ankle. The nickname ‘Abs’ threw her for a moment, no one had really called her that since Lena had passed.

     “I’m not sure, I think it’s broken but that might just be because of the horrible pain.” She replied through gritted teeth.

     “OK, we’re going to the hospital. Sam?” Dean called for his brother, some signal Sam must have understood because he grabbed the keys that had been carelessly tossed to the table and a duffel bag from somewhere unseen before holding open the door for Abbie and Dean. Dean moved to grab Abbie under her legs and around her waist like he intended to pick her up.

     “Back to the car.” He said before hoisting her in the air.

     “Hey wait you probably can’t-” But she was cut off by Dean lifting her with little trouble. She was surprised by his strength and allowed him to carry her to the car without protest.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Idk how to sum up this chapter, probaby because I'm not sleeping much. So you know, just enjoy...I guess?

     “Ok, so I looked into it. I think they’re….mermaids?” Abbie stretched the word because she knew it would sound silly and she wanted to convey that she was aware of how it sounded. “But there's a lot of conflicting information on them. I guess some of them just live in salt water and eat fish and avoid people, and some use magic to steal life from humans? Maybe?” 

     She was switching between some scans of a book about mermaids in the Oxford library (she was dying to see their collection in person) and a lengthy blog post about mermaids from a blog one of Lena's associates ran through their kid. She had been since she woke up in her hospital bed. She kinda like hospitals and felt clean and comfortable in her bed with machines beeping around her. Unfortunately her phone was beginning to die and she decided to turn off her screen and see what the boys thought.

     Dean held her in steady regard and it made her feel a little uncomfortable. He’d been fussing over her all night and looked a little haggard. He’d been a little moody and she wasn’t sure if it was lack of sleep or if he felt bad about her getting hurt, or that guy dying, or all of the above. Either way she didn’t like him all sulky and upset.

     “Ok so why don’t I grab some sleep, you two should as well,” she ventured a glance at Sam who was staring at his laptop with a long cold cup of coffee next to him, “We’ll regroup in a few hours.” Dean seemed to droop a little at the suggestion, like he was giving in to the idea. He nodded a little and sat down heavily in the arm chair next to her bed. He was almost immediately asleep.

     “He can sleep just about anywhere, when he lets himself.” Sam chuckled smiling warmly at his brother. 

     “Hmmm thats good, job like ours, when you get the chance to sleep you should take it. Speaking of, do you wanna go back to the motel and sleep for a bit?” She asked Sam seeing his head droop a little.

     “Yeah, that’d be nice actually. You sure you’ll be ok?” He shut his computer but looked to her for an answer before packing it up.

     “Yeah, if I need anything I’ll call a nurse or something. Should we wake him up? So he can get some sleep in an actual bed?” She asked motioning to Dean with her head.

     “Nah, he wouldn’t leave anyway. Just let him sleep.” Sam said before pulling his bag on his shoulder and heading for the door.

     “Sam wait! You wouldn't happen to have a micro usb charger would you?” She bit her lip, if Dean wasn’t awake to make researching awkward she would do it to her hearts content.

     “Yeah I do.” Sam responded smiling and fishing around in his bag.

* * *

      Abbie woke up to the sound of the nurses cart clattering through the doorway. Her phone was clutched to her chest and she had no clue what time it was, she must have passed out reading. 

      “Alright Mrs. Cooper, we’re gonna run one more blood test, and we should be able to get you out of here in a few hours.” The nurse said casting Abbie a bright smile.

      The name Mrs. Cooper threw Abbie for a loop for a moment, she’d hadn’t realized that Dean must have filled out her paperwork after the doctor gave her a sedative. She glanced down to the bracelet around her wrist. The name on it read Cooper, Alice. She rolled her eyes, she knew the boys tended to use the names of classic rockers and she was sure he thought this was very clever.

      The nurse took some blood and left the room. Abbie pulled some research back up on her phone but found herself unable to focus on it for long. She turned off her phone and set it down on the bedside table before snuggling down into her pillows and drifting off back to sleep.

* * *

      Abbie woke up again sometime later still a little disoriented. This time the room was empty. She shifted a little putting some pressure on her injured ankle. She had a fuzzy memory of telling the doctor that she had hit her ankle on a rock while paddling. She could recall words like fracture, lacerations, and six to eight weeks. She sighed loudly but was distracted by Dean entering the room in a wheelchair. He maneuvered into the room balanced on the back wheels alone with two cups of coffee in his lap.

      “Hey.” He said grinning and dropping down to all four wheels before passing her a cup.

      “Mmmm crotch coffee, thanks Mr. Cooper.” She said smiling, accepting the coffee and missing the blush that crept across his face. The smell of it and the warm feeling in her hand was comforting and well worth the pain in her shoulder, She’d almost forgotten about the bite there, she had no recollection of explaining that to the doctor. She hoped Dean or Sam came up with something good.

      “Yeah you saw that, huh?” He looked so stupidly proud of himself. 

      “So if I’m Mrs. Alice Cooper, who are you?” She asked sipping her coffee. It was a little weak and sweeter than she usually took it but she was mostly just happy he’d thought of her.

      “Vincent Cooper.” He smirked to himself and eyed her a little, waiting to see her reaction.

      “Oh, that’s pretty funny. Using his real first name and his stage name? Nice, I approve.” She relaxed into her bed and sipped her coffee. Dean watched her and and felt something similar to pride, he struggled to put the thought of how warm her lips must feel out of his head.

     She reached to grab her phone off the bedside table to check her notes on the mermaid creatures they had fought the night before. There were some hard to read sentences from when she had begun to fall asleep. She went over the important points with Dean including how to kill them.

      “Are you kidding me? A gold sword? Where can you even get a gold sword? Now gold bullets I can do, can't we just shoot them?” He asked, eyebrows knit together in frustration.

      “The passage is specific about a gold sword and beheading. I don't know if it's the gold that's important or the beheading, but to be safe I think we should go with a sword. But no worries I found a replica shop in Burbank a few hours away. They actually had one in stock. It was really surprising, but I still need to call them and actually buy it. So I'm gonna do that, maybe you should check up on Sam?” She asked, hoping no creatures found their way to the hotel. They were staying very close to the lake.

      “He called me earlier. Said he wasn’t having much luck with research, looks like you got Sam beat.” Dean was once again rocking back on the back wheels of the chair. Abbie rolled her eyes and sighed loudly.

      “You’re gonna hurt yourself, and I noticed before that you and Sam stick to pretty conventional study materials. You should utilize the internet better. There's lots of info pages out there run by hunters kids and you can get pdfs of a lot of old books. Pdfs are nice because you don’t have to squint at hand written middle english to find out how to kill a succubus. You guys just read a lot of physical books to be living in the age of computers is all I’m saying. Now leave so I can make this call.” She shooed him away as she dialed the number. Dean rolled his eyes as he wheeled himself back into the hallway.

* * *

     “Drive as fast as you can, it’s about a two day drive, but it’s still faster than delivery. According to Sam the campsite is still active, it’s probably because of the injured one, but-” Abbie was cut off by a call from the coroner, no doubt to inform them of the new body. “I need to handle this, just- just drive fast ok?” She asked before answering the call and hobbling into her room with the help of her crutch.

      “Drive fast, like I don’t know to drive fast. She probably thinks it’ll take me two days because she’s running around in a dart. Baby’ll make the trip in twelve hours.” Dean mumbled mostly to himself but in a way that made it clear to Sam he could jump in and agree if he liked. Instead Sam tried to calm his brother down.

      “Just get the sword Dean. That's the best way to show her she’s wrong.” Sam said in a level tone.

      “How can you be so calm? The whole way over she was talking about how she knew Sweet D could make it but Baby was iffy. ‘Don’t red line it, you might blow the engine in the foothills’” He mimicked in a high voice that didn’t particularly sound like Abbie.

     “She’s just worried they’ll leave and we’ll lose our chance. Just get back here fast and prove her wrong ok?” Sam was trying to be placating but he couldn’t keep the smirk off his face. Everything Abbie did affected his brother so intensely.

      “What’re you smiling about?” Dean asked immediately defensive.

      “Nothing, she just gets to you so easily.” He grinned.

      “She does not!” Dean yelled getting into baby and slamming the door.

      “What was that about?” Abbie asked from inside her room as Dean drove away.

      “Nothing.” Sam assured her. She rolled her eyes and carefully made her way to her bed.

* * *

      “Dean had been gone for about 15 hours and Abbie was restless and frustrated. The pain pills the doctor gave her put her right to sleep so she hadn’t taken any since the hospital to keep her wits about her. Unfortunately that meant she was in constant throbbing pain and it did not help her mood.

      Sam had been staking out the campsite from her window. They’d talked on and off, but Sam was focused and she’d been reading as much mermaid lore as possible to find things that over lapped regularly. Because of the popularity of mermaids she found both too much and too little of what she was looking for. Too much of things like they grant wishes and too little of their weaknesses.

     For a moment Abbie thought she heard the impala but a glance at the clock told her it couldn't be. But soon she saw the flash of headlights on the curtains.

     “Looks like Dean's back.” Sam said casually like it was normal, and indeed Dean walked through the door nonchalantly, carrying a large golden sword.

     “Do you have superpowers or something?” She nearly yelled.

     “You said to drive fast.” He replied oh so smugly. Half of her wanted to tell him he was an asshole, the other half wanted to ask him to teach her how to do that.

     “Ok so what's the game plan?” She asked choosing to ignore his smug response.

     “The plan is Sam and I go to their campsite and cut their heads off while you hold down the fort here.” Dean said flatly.

     “I- Wha- No! This was my case, you’re not gonna just-” But Dean cut off her sputtering sentence.

     “Look Abbs, you’re injured pretty badly. Right now you’d be more of a hindrance than a help. You should stay here and keep an eye on us. If you come with us you’ll probably get us all killed.” He stated very matter of factly.

     “I would? You'd both be dead if I weren’t there last time! You were just gonna let swamp thing one and two whisper you sweet nothings right into your graves!” She was very nearly shouting. What Dean was saying made sense, but she couldn’t help but feel like he was trying to baby her, and it made her blood boil. If Lena had told her to stay put with an injury she wouldn’t have questioned it, but Dean Winchester did not hold that kind of sway over her, apparently he just made her unreasonable.

     “I know, but this is different, you can hardly walk. And there's no guarantee they can’t hypnotize you too.” Dean crossed his arms sternly and stared Abbie down. Abbie was all set to stare right back until the both rotted away but Sam stepped in.

     “Abbie you know he’s right. And this way if anything goes wrong you can call in backup.” He said in a soothing voice. Abbie wasn’t sure why Sam always felt he had to mediate between her and Dean, it made her want to like him less. The fact that he was actually really good at it made her like him more and it kinda pissed her off.

     “Fine.” She huffed, breaking eye contact with Dean to give Sam a dirty look. In return he gave her sort of a concerned half smile. “And I may have an idea about the hypnosis actually.”

     She sifted through the many items in her bag before pulling out two sticks of chapstick. “So bear in mind that I have no real proof this will work and the execution is kinda half assed because I have no idea where to get bees wax, but I think we can smush this in your ears to block out their siren song. Well not siren-siren, that's something totally different. Anyway I have two sticks of beeswax chapstick.” She held them up.

     “One’s pink and cherry flavored, the other’s blue and minty.” She added after no one spoke for a moment.

     “I don’t follow.” Dean said.

     “It’s a thing, Odysseus put beeswax in his ears to block out the sirens in the Odyssey, sailors used to carry it in their pockets in case they sailed by mermaids or sirens.” Sam supplied. Dean simply nodded staring at the chapstick. Sam reached for the one nearest to him which happened to be cherry. Dean quickly reached out and grabbed it first.

     “You can use mint.” he said under his breath. Sam rolled his eyes and took the minty one.

     Both boys rolled the chapstick as high as they would go and removed them from their tubes. Sam broke his in half and tried to gently insert the halves in his ears, Dean watched for a moment before following suit.

     “It’s both slimey and tingly.” Sam said making a horrible face.

     “What?” Dean asked, too loud. Not sure of how well the boys would be able to hear her Abbie crossed her fingers on both hands and held them up near her face on either side of her obviously fake smile. Dean offered a thumbs up and an iffy smile of his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again big thanks to trashfan2003 for being my beta.  
> Also, um, I guess theres a blog for this fic now? Uh theres like one post because I'm bad at this. But my beta talked me into it. And I guess it's easier to communicate on a blog, if anyone wants to message me for any reason?  
> IDK, I feel like I'm being REALLY presumptuous making a blog....w/e its here if you're interested; <https://seriouslysatanfanfiction.tumblr.com/>


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the boys worry Abbie, then Dean makes an interesting offer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's he real chapter 7. I feel like this chapter may not be as strong as others? I might just be nervous. But I think I built up this chapter with how long it took to come out and i'm worried that it's a let down.
> 
> idk, let me know if it seems off.

     Abbie wanted to pace but her injury kept her pretty well contained to her seat. She was nervous and fidgety, she hated waiting anyway and this was the worst kind of waiting. Waiting to see if people you almost like are going to survive.

     She watched the Impala park a short distance from the campsite and had been able to see the boys careful approach. She could only tell them apart because of their heights, had Sam not been a giant they would just be two indistinguishable blurs.

     Once they made it to the campsite her view was blocked by inconvenient vegetation and a large tent. She watched for movement for a while, then decided to put the binoculars down because it would go faster if she wasn’t sitting there watching nothing. A short time later she picked them back up and cursed herself for looking away, what if something happened?

     A while later she was debating whether she was right the first time when the campfire suddenly grew ten times it’s size. She struggled to keep watch for movement but the bright light blinded her a little. As far a she could tell the car hadn’t moved. She decided enough was enough, she stood on one shaky leg and hobbled around the room gathering supplies. She threw her bag across her back and reached for the crutches leaning against the door, but she leaned too far and lost her balance.

     She crashed to the floor, her bag of equipment thumping heavy on her ribs. Her injured ankle came down instinctively to stabilize her and resulted in her ankle smacking into the bed frame sending white hot pain shooting through her. She laid there groaning. Her shoulder throbbed intensely, she was pretty sure she had busted her stitches. 

     Groaning she rolled the bag away from her and struggled to push her own weight on to her knees. Because of her splint she couldn't get both knees under her and she took a moment to rest heavy on just one. 

     She grasped at one crutch that she could just barely reach. After fumbling with it she managed to knock it down to a more easily reachable position. She used it to drag herself to her feet and sat on the edge of the bed holding her shoulder. Her hand came away warm and sticky, she had indeed busted her stitches. She sighed, who knew what was happening with the boys while she flopped around on the floor.

     Abbie forced herself up onto the crutch. she reached down to her bag and slung it back across her body, ignoring her loudly protesting shoulder. She hobbled her way over to the other crutch and made her way out the door to Sweet D. She managed to toss the bag into the backseat, hissing in pain, and loaded in both crutches. With her injured and throbbing foot in the air she pulled herself away enough to close the back door. She hopped pathetically to the driver's door and took a moment to take a breath and push the pain down before opening the door and climbing in.

     As she was readying herself to drive with an injured shoulder and a fucked ankle, the sound of wheels on gravel touched her ear and she was blinded by babys’ headlights. Her head drooped forward in relief. She allowed herself to smile into her chest for a moment before struggling to a standing position.

     “What the hell are you doing?” Dean yelled getting out of the car and shutting the door a little too hard.

     “I-” She began but he cut her off. 

     “Did you really think it’d be a good idea to walk into a fight like that? You gotta use your head Abbie.” He spoke loudly and gestured to her ankle, Abbies’ temper flared. She felt her cheeks flush but she told herself she was going to stay calm and explain her position to Dean.

     “To start, fuck you Dean. I thought you were dead, I thought I was gonna have to build you pyres. But that's not even what I wanna yell at you for, I wanna make sure your know that you don't get any say in what I do. I could be on my fucking death bed and if I wanna walk into hell fire Dean Winchester doesn't get a goddamn say in the matter. I don't care about whatever mommy or daddy issues you've got that make you think you need to be everyone's mother hen, that shit ain't gonna fly with me.” She was yelling, she could feel the blood on her cheeks spreading to the rest of her face like warm water under the surface. She hadn't intended to get so worked up, she blamed it on the pain.

     Dean didn't react, he didn't deflate in defeat or back off to calm her down, he didn't get angry or offended. He just looked to her shoulder and stated plainly; “your stitches popped. I’ll patch you up.” And then her turned and walked into the motel. 

     Grumbling Abbie pulled her crutches from the back seat of her dart and made her way to the door.

     Inside Dean came face to face with Sam who had snuck inside during the shouting.

     “Dude Abbie yelled at me.” Dean breathed, careful not to speak loud enough for her to hear him.

     “Yeah, I heard. You ok?” Sam asked.

     “ I don't know. That was the scariest thing that's ever happened to me. She got so mad. That was way worse than the merbitch jumping on me outta nowhere and screaming in my ear.” He replied, Sam nodded and patted his brothers’ shoulder in a comforting manner.

     Abbie came around the corner looking dangerous and sat on the edge of the bed with a huff, her back to the boys. Dean grabbed some supplies from the bathroom for her shoulder.

     “I'm gonna go shower, in our room.” Sam said walking out too fast for his brother to protest.

     Dean chuffed at his brother's retreating form and carefully approached Abbie. He sat next to her on the side of her injured shoulder and felt it gingerly through her shirt. She sucked air in through her teeth.

     “Alright, we're gonna need to get rid of the shirt, you ok with that?” He asked her softly.

     “Yeah that's fine.” She answered quietly. She began to remove her shirt and a tight coil of dread formed in her stomach. She tried to not think of this as an awkward situation, Dean was just stitching her back up. That's all. But once her shirt lay discarded on the floor she was painfully aware that she was sitting in just a sports bra next to him, anger gone like a puff of smoke. 

     She could admit to herself that Dean was attractive, there was no shame in that regardless of the way her stomach roiled at the thought. It was natural for her to be a little uncomfortable like this. But as much as she was fighting her instinct to cover her stomach, to sit up as straight as possible, to suck in as hard as she could and hold it until he was done, she was forced to admit to herself that is was more that that. It was the fact that SHE was sitting next to him, with her round tummy and stretch marks, that was making this so tense.

     She chanced a look at him as he began unwrapping the bandage around her wound. He was laser focused on her shoulder. He cleaned her blood, removed the damaged stitches, closed the wound back up, and rebandaged the area without once looking up. She knew his reputation, knew that if he we're fixing up a smaller woman he’d have stolen a glance or two. She felt shame bubble up in her, it was a feeling she knew well, feeling like she wasn't worth being looked at.

     She scolded herself for wanting something like that. She wasn't a teenager wanting to be noticed by a cute boy. She felt embarrassed and frustrated. She just wanted Dean to leave so she could be alone with her dumb thoughts.

     “You ok? Is the gauze too tight?” Dean asked her looking concerned. She shook her head no. “You were making a weird face. Everything alright?”

     “Yeah I'm fine.” She answered offering the best smile she could muster, which wasn't much. 

     “I'm sorry about all that earlier.” He said out of the blue. He paused to stand up and glance around the room but unable to spot where she kept her clothes, he shrugged off his own button up and put it around her carefully. The bottom hem was wet with saltwater and it smelled like smoke, well smoke and Dean. Abbie pulled it on and wrapped it around her torso, it wouldn't button over her stomach and she didn't want to mess with that in front of him.

     “I just didn't want you getting hurt. Before you say anything, I know that's not reason enough to yell at you. But I've lost a lot of good people over the years. We haven't known each other for long, but you're a damn good Hunter...and you like Bon Jovi, so you got that working for you.” He smiled at her nervously, hoping to lighten the air of the room. 

     “Have we ever even talked about Bon Jovi?” She asked, accepting his olive branch.

     “No, but you lipsync to it, I saw you in the mirror. When I was checking the- traffic, you know.” He cleared his throat. Was she imagining it or we're his cheeks pink?

     “I just like the idea that you'll be out there rambling around and kicking ass, ok?” He finished looking flustered and uncomfortable.

     “I get it, I'm just glad we put things straight.” she said, meaning it. Even if he expressed it like an idiot it was kinda nice that Dean was so worried.

     “Good, alright. So I guess, good night and tomorrow- wait, what are you gonna do tomorrow?” He asked suddenly concerned.

     “What do you mean?” She asked.

     “ You need to hole up somewhere to let your ankle heal. You got people you can stay with?” He asked.

     “Nah, I think I'm just gonna camp out here, or in Sweet D.” She said shrugging, she hadn't really thought about it. She didn't want to bother Lena's family so her options were pretty much Sweet D, this motel, or another motel.

     “Now I know I don't have any say on what you do, but I'm worried you'll work a job on that ankle. I just don't think it's a good idea.” He tried to speak in a friendly tone but the concern was evident and sparked something warm in her chest.

     “Come on Dean.” She leveled a hard look at him.

     “Can you honestly say that you won't get bored and try to work something small?” He asked. She had every intention of lying to make him feel better, but something about his eyes pulled the truth out of her.

     “I don't know! Maybe!...no.” She answered her voice trailing to a whisper. He rolled his eyes and groaned.

     “Come on Abbs you gotta take care of yourself.” The nickname got her again, the whole sentence was so Lena it was surreal.

     “I will! I won't do anything stupid!” She shouted feeling defensive. 

     “I just don't think I can believe that.” He said in a flat tone. She glared at him, partially because he was being a dick and partially because he was probably right.

     He snapped his fingers and looked at her with a new look in his eyes. “Stay with us! We have a great place, it’s literally a bunker. You can hang out, help with research and do phone support, so you'd still be working jobs.” He exclaimed, he was so excited.

     “I- I don't know, would Sam-” she began to ask, but in his excitement Dean rolled over her sentence.

     “Sam won't care! And you could meet Cas!” He was talking like she was coming over for a sleepover. His mood was infectious, it was hard not to get caught up in it.

     “And Cas is?” She asked, only a little jealous of this person he was so enthused about.

     “He's my best friend! He's been hunting with us for a while…..he's an angel.” He said this with a tone that suggested she might not take him seriously. But Abbie had a run in with an angel a while back, she wasn't a fan.

     “Oh...that's, weird? Angels don't really like humans?” She quirked an eyebrow and waited for an explanation.

     “Most don't, Cas is different. You'll see, you'll love him. Hes- weird, like a toddler in a trench coat.” Dean said it with...pride? 

     “I don't know, I'd rather not be any trouble.” She replied, but she was considering it. It would be cool to hang out with the boys some more, something she never thought she’d want.

     “You won't be, it'll be fun. I'll make you my special burgers. I make ‘em with beer.” He whispered that last part like it's a secret.

     “Alright, fine. That sounds kinda nice. I'll make a pie to go with them.” She said casually, but Dean's face went serious and he stared her down.

     “You make pie?” He asked, a little dramatically.

     “Yeah, I like baking. I also do cookies and cakes and breads.” She shrugged.

     “Oh this is gonna be AWESOME!” He yelled making Abbie giggle.

     “Alright cool, see you in the morning then.” He said grinning at her and winked as he walked out the door. 

     Abbie sighed and laid back on her bed. What had she agreed to? This could be really awkward. She made a throaty sound somewhere between a groan and a whine and decided she should take a pain pill and go to sleep, she could deal with her doubts in the morning. She snuggled down into her pillows and the smell of Dean shirt, still wrapped around her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed it, there will be talk of the actual fight next chapter if anyones upset that it wasn't covered here. And as always thanks to trashfan2003  
> check her out, shes on a mission to pair you up with everyone in the star wars universe.
> 
> aaaand if you want to message me else where there is a tumblr for this fic for some reason, <https://seriouslysatanfanfiction.tumblr.com/>, be forewarned I've done nothing with it.
> 
> And thanks for sticking with me guys <3


	8. Chapter 8

Hey there, ya'll remember me? If so I'm sorry, because I'm a terrible fic writer. Apart from questionable content, I have all but stopped writing. I'm so sorry about that and I'm here to let you know there should be an update soon.

So very very sorry.


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